College classes are video games
College classes are video games in most of the ways that matter. The developer controls the challenges and rewards for the user. Unlike the student's social or spiritual life, everything that happens in their academic life is within a constructed environment. Architect: you, within the boundaries set by accrediting agencies and the institution you work for. Engagement is voluntary. You might try a computer game because your friend said it was good, but you probably won’t stick around for your friend’s sake. Similarly, some students may come to college classes because influential people in their lives said they should, but that isn’t what will make them stay. Both distort the passage of time to accelerate skill acquisition. Video games often do this by making skill acquisition take a lot less time than it would in real life. College does this by forcing students to read, write, remember and practice more in a semester than they typically would in a year (or five). Compressing al